Deaf Services What’s all the noise about?

Question 1

SMHSDP MDT

Answer 1

Part time Psychiatrist
1.5 Advanced Nurse Practitioners

Half day per week of Occupational Therapy

Part time admin
No regular interpreter, but book as required

Access to specialist neuropsychologist assessments

Access to specialist inpatient beds as required

Question 2

what patients are received by SMHSDP

Answer 2

Referrals – from professionals,
written, email

Severe to Profound hearing loss
Including dual sensory loss

Mild to Severe Mental Disorder

Adults only but happy to discuss younger age groups
Work jointly with local mental health teams

Question 3

mental health relationship with deafness

Answer 3

Higher rates of depression or anxiety

Difficulty around diagnosis of condition or assessment of needs

Often misdiagnosed as learning disability

Deaf people have higher rates of common mental health problems with complex problems.

Question 4

common impacts on mental health by the deaf society

Answer 4

More likely to be bullied

Isolated from family

Drug and alcohol misuse

Isolation/loneliness

Deaf people struggle to access generic services

Missed and mis-diagnosis

Inappropriate treatment

Prolonged inpatient treatment

Question 5

legnth of stay impact on deaf community

Answer 5

Deaf inpatients mean LOS twice that of hearing inpatients (97 vs 52 days)

Deaf inpatients 50% delayed discharge

Question 6

link between deaf community and voice hallucinations

Answer 6

People with acquired deafness may experience an auditory voice.

Question 7

what should you consider when assessing a deaf patient

Answer 7

Communication needs
Environment light
Questions
Assessment tools
Time
Body language

MMSE

Question 8

MMSE components

Answer 8

orientation
registration
attention and calculation
recall
language
copying

Question 9

what is common in the Ageing population

Answer 9

dual sensory impairement - hearing and vision loss